Joao Sousa was pretty devasted after losing his final-round qualifying match. But his day got better.
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INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Imagine how Joao Sousa felt when he saw Novak Djokovic’s name in the draw. And less than 24 hours after that draw, see the Serbian star withdraw – having finally and conclusively determined that there was going to be no way he could gain entry into the U.S. to play Indian Wells of Miami.
Sousa, a 32-year-old from Portugal who’s been a top-30 player, but is currently ranked No. 85, would have been the next one into the main draw, upon Djokovic’s withdrawal (or anyone else’s, for that matter).
But it didn’t happen, and so he had to play the qualifying.
Tuesday night, he saved two match points before pulling out a three-hour marathon against Max Purcell of Australia.
On Wednesday, he wasn’t as fortunate.
Eubanks takes out Sousa
Sousa fell to Chris Eubanks, a big-serving American, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4).
He was … fairly mature about it. The only items that bore the brunt of his anger were a couple of water bottles. Which he violently threw … into the trash can.
But he was pretty devastated.
Here’s what it looked like.
As the No. 2 seed in qualifying, there was certainly still a shot to get the lucky loser spot created by Djokovic’s late withdrawal. Winning his first-round match was the key to that.
But that was a roll of the dice.
Fortune smiles on Sousa
About three hours later, when the men’s qualifying was finished, there was some good news for Sousa.
He made it as a lucky loser, and will play Pedro Martinez of Spain in the first round.
So far, that is the only lucky loser spot that became available.
Somehow, it feels as though it all worked out correctly in the end.
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